To assess sex role development in Mexican-American males, about 40 kindergarten boys from low middle to very low socioeconomic backgrounds were divided into 2 statistical test groups according to whether their fathers were or were not resident in the home. Data were obtained from toy preference scorings, which followed Biller's 1968 measure; scoring of aggressive independence by teachers and classroom aides; and the It Scale for Children (ITSC), which recorded responses to a figure drawing of a child of anomalous sex. No significant difference in sex-stereotyped responses was found. The results contrasted with Hetherington's 1966 and P. Sears' 1951 findings of less aggressiveness in boys whose fathers were absented before the boys were five years old. Alternate role-models such as older male siblings, uncles or grandfathers in an extended-family setting in Alice, Texas probably prevented disruption of role modelling from absence of fathers as in nuclear families. A quarter of each group identified with a boy with stylish longer hair representing a "girlish boy" stereotype when ITSC originated in 1956. More such sociological studies will aid educators to probe for methods and materials that will result in increased utilization of the educational capabilities of this cultural group. (SC)